The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

EU states have used radical NGOs to subvert Israeli gov't policy since the 1990s, driven by ignorance, naivete and a dose of anti-Semitism.

"Breaking the Silence" activist leads an exhibit of Israeli "war crimes" in Zurich

Reuters

The practice among many European Union European states to fund
extremist anti-Zionist groups inside Israel is so entrenched that it has
become an integral part of those countries' foreign policies, a leading
expert has said.

Professor Gerald Steinberg, who heads the NGO Monitor watchdog which tracks extremist anti-Israel NGOs, explained to Arutz Sheva that that troubling fact was the reason behind his group's surprise withdrawal
of its previous firm opposition to the so-called Transparency Bill,
which was officially approved by the Israeli government yesterday.

The bill, sponsored by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home),
is the latest incarnation of a string of similar, failed legislative
proposals to expose the degree to which foreign - primarily European -
states are attempting to impose their policies on the State of Israel by
funneling tens of millions of euros annually to extremist left and Arab
NGOs inside Israel. It would mandate NGOs which receive more than 50%
of their funding from foreign states to reveal their sources of income,
and with approval from the Ministerial Committee on Legislation it now
seems highly likely that the bill will become law once it comes up for a
vote in the Knesset.

Prior to yesterday's vote, NGO Monitor had opposed the bill, opting
instead to engage directly with European politicians and diplomats to
explain to them the harm that their countries' funding of "anti-peace"
NGOs was causing to the cause of peace they claimed to be interested in.

While NGO Monitor will continue its efforts on that front, Steinberg
explained that the twin obstacles of bureaucracy-induced ignorance and
outright anti-Semitism meant EU states were unlikely to come round any
time soon - and that in the meantime Israel has every right to protect
its sovereignty in the face of a seemingly-endless assault-by-proxy.

"In Europe, while governments provide tens of millions of NIS every
year to Israeli, Palestinian and other political NGOs, the top
officials, MPs, journalists, and others are largely unaware of the
amounts, activities, or agendas of the groups that receive taxpayer
funds," Steinberg explained.

"In many cases, the funding process is entirely secret in order to
prevent criticism, and even ambassadors to Israel from European
countries are not involved in or informed of NGO funding decisions made
in their home countries, and, in the case of the EU, in Brussels," he
added.

Via detailed reports and face-to-face engagement, NGO Monitor aims to
"enable these officials to perform the due diligence that should be
done whenever government money is spent, and in particular, when it is
used to manipulate another democratic society (Israel)."

But despite the issue being on the radar for several years at least,
European states - including those considered close allies of Jerusalem
such as France and Germany - are still funneling millions into radical
anti-Israel groups.

"It is clear that unless there is a major change in the
activities of European officials who have responsibility for this
destablizing and dangerous NGO funding used to oppose peace and demonize
Israel, including through BDS, there is no alternative other than
through Knesset legislation to protect Israeli democracy," Steinberg
asserted.

He noted that this policy is nothing new, with Europe having long ago
identified a clear weak spot to manipulate Israel, whose laws governing
NGO funding and conduct are far more lax than most western countries,
including in Europe and North America.

"In the mid-1990s, some EU and Western Europe officials
'discovered' the ease with which Israeli NGOs could be used to advance
their interests and ideologies on Israel. So the first factor is the
exercise of political power and manipulation," Steinberg said,
explaining how and why the policy took root.

"But over the years, other factors became apparent - including
general naivete about NGO politics (known as the halo effect), and for
some European officials including in Brussels, anti-Semitism, in its new
form of anti-Zionism and double standards applied only to Israel."

By way of example, he noted that the "Breaking the Silence"
NGO - which has been accused of fabricating alleged testimonies by
former IDF soldiers in order to demonize Israel - "gets the majority of
its budget via church aid frameworks funded by European governments, and
some of these church groups are infected by the new anti-Semitism."

Steinberg dismissed claims by opponents of the bill that it amounted
to silencing free speech, noting that the actual objective is to simply
inform the public and political officials. Indeed, under the bill NGOs
will not have their activities curbed in any way - they will merely be
obliged to reveal the sources of the funding if more than 50% comes from
foreign states.

"The proposed legislation is a means of putting this issue on the
agenda, not only in Israel, but more importantly in Europe," he said.
"It sends a very strong signal to European political leaders regarding
the need to stop giving massive amounts to fringe Israeli groups and
messianists such as Breaking the Silence, where less than 10 activists
have over $1 million, and the dangerous impact this has."

"If this signal fails and the NGO war continues, Israel's elected officials have the obligation to consider other responses."Ari SofferSource: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/205575#.VoE4IFKzdds Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.